Makkah:
His Excellency Sheikh Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, the Secretary-General of the Muslim World League and Chairman of the Organization of Muslim Scholars, welcomed the announcement by the United Nations General Assembly adopting a resolution on "Promoting interreligious and intercultural dialogue and tolerance in countering hate speech."
Dr. Al-Issa expressed the MWL’s praise of the international consensus on the draft resolution, which "strongly condemns all acts of violence against people, on the basis of their religion or belief, as well as any such acts against their religious symbols, sacred books, homes, businesses, properties, schools, cultural centers, or places of worship, in addition to all attacks on religious sites and shrines, which violate international law.”
Dr. Al-Issa stressed that specifying "religious symbols" and "sacred books" in this decision represents an important qualitative shift in international efforts to confront these crimes. It is a victory for the values of moderation, which include respecting religious sanctities, especially after the dangerous and disturbing escalation in the overt and deliberate acts of hatred against Muslims and their sanctities, the latest of which was the repeated desecration of copies of the Noble Quran in some countries, under official protection, to practice this criminal provocation that only reflects civilizational and moral backwardness, and distorts the conscious concept of freedom of expression, which is the opposite of what the world hopes for, which is the strengthening of bonds of friendship between nations and peoples. This includes promoting the values of understanding, love, and harmony between national societies. His Excellency stressed that the “partial view” of the concept of freedom of expression would make it deviate from its humanitarian goals to cause other repercussions that are more comprehensive and important according to “moral” and “logical” priorities.
His Excellency expressed his hope that this decision would contribute to a reduction of the dangerous acts that provoke hatred and religious sentiments, which only serve the agendas of extremism, the most dangerous of which is criminal incitement to civilizational clash between nations and peoples in general and diverse national communities.
